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Chris Ciovacco: On April 8, we outlined reasons to be concerned about stocks. The Fed pays close attention to the market’s risk profile; maybe they didn’t like what they saw. In addition to the Fed minutes that were released Wednesday, Charles Evans seemed Read more…

Chris Ciovacco: The U.S. economy is highly dependent on consumers buying and consuming. It is much easier to buy and consume when you are employed. Consequently, investors monitor the labor market very closely. Read more…

Chris Ciovacco: While common sense tells us “printing our way to prosperity” seems like an unlikely longer-term outcome, in the short run it can help push stock prices higher. From Bloomberg: Read more…

Eric Dutram: Over the past few years, ETFs have gained in popularity among sector-focused investors and those looking to do short-term trades. Leveraged and niche ETFs have seen huge inflows as a result, leaving many of their broader ETF counterparts in the dust. Read more…

Michael Johnston: The universe of U.S.-listed ETFs has expanded at a record pace in 2011, with more than 300 new products beginning to trade. This year has also seen some contraction, as a number of different issuers have shuttered products that failed to generate interest from investors. IndexIQ is Read more…

Stoyan Bojinov: New exchange traded products continue to debut on the market by the cartload, as issuers have been ramping up activity on the product development front while ongoing innovation in the Read more…

Vanguard is expanding its index fund family, introducing new funds with ETF Shares to provide investors with additional low-cost stock and bond choices. The new ETFs will be available commission-free to Vanguard Brokerage clients. See the preliminary breakdown of each ETF below Read more…

A simple way to invest and diversify yourself would be to invest in the world. The following ETF’s cover markets worldwide and invest in several companies within the ETF. This minimizes your exposure to one company or country, creating a well balanced portfolio in one ETF. Read more…

Last year, shareholders everywhere simply lost faith in stocks, selling off both undervalued and overvalued ones. You could tap computer keyboards, pore over balance sheets and examine price charts to identify superb companies in which to invest, only to see your “bargain” stock become an even bigger one as your fellow shareholders dumped their shares, convinced the world was ending.

Hence the theory: If all stocks move in lockstep based on investors’ general attitude toward owning equities, you might as well forget the analysis and buy everything — specifically, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that holds hundreds of stocks from all over the world.

All broad-based ETFs have tracked the same path as the markets, bubbling along nicely until last summer, then plunging and hitting a multiyear low on March 9. True to form, all have since roared back with the markets over the past two months.

Investors who want to own everything in a single ETF should consider the Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund (VT/NYSE), said Norman Rothery, founder of StingyInvestor.com.

The fund’s management expense ratio of 25 basis points “is a bit high,” he said, noting a lower MER can be achieved by combining a fund that tracks the U. S. market — the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI/NYSE), which has an MER of 0.07% — with something like the Vanguard Europe Pacific ETF (VEA/NYSE), with an MER of 0.15%, “so it can be a cheaper approach, but if you’re looking for total simplicity, you can get it down to one fund.”

Our online search found that most “global” exchange-traded funds are dominated by the same handful of U.S. giants: Exxon Mobil Corp., Microsoft Corp., AT&T Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble Co., Chevron Corp., General Electric Co. and IBM Corp. Although these companies have international operations, the ETFs that hold them seem more American than global.

Similarly, MSN’s Moneycentral site (moneycentral. msn.com/investor) lists 17 ETFs under the category of “world stock,” but many represent plays on individual sectors — industrials, consumer staples, agriculture, gaming, luxury goods, shipping and so on. If you buy such a sector ETF, even one diversified geographically, your hunch about the industry must be correct for your investment to outperform the overall index. If you are not an industry insider, you’re just guessing. So, again, you might as well buy everything.